Land trust permanently protects 692 acres in Beaver Lake watershed
by February 10, 2026 1:02 pm 1,651 views
The Northwest Arkansas Land Trust has completed a $780,953 project to permanently protect 692 acres in the Beaver Lake watershed — nearly 200 acres above its original goal.
The land trust received a $394,520 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a matching amount of $384,719 to support the three-year project to protect forests, streams and headwaters critical to drinking water for more than 1 in 6 Arkansans. Beaver Lake provides water to more than 400,000 people, according to the Beaver Water District. The land trust received an EPA Section 319 Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Program grant and matching funds from Beaver Water District.
“Many families want to protect their land, but the economic realities can be challenging,” said Marson Nance, director of philanthropy at Northwest Arkansas Land Trust. “This grant gave us the capacity to help landowners make choices that benefit both their families and our region’s drinking water for generations.”
The three-year project was completed in partnership with the Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Division and the EPA to safeguard water quality by reducing nonpoint source pollution through land conservation, education and outreach.
The land trust recorded the following seven new conservation easements across the watershed in Washington and Madison counties.
- Rimrock Ranch, 315 acres
- Courteau and Graham property, 80 acres
- Costello property, 75 acres
- Culver property, 73 acres
- Ryan property, 62 acres
- House property, 45 acres
- Murdoch property, 40 acres
The easements protect more than 14,000 linear feet of streams, including segments of the White River and Middle Fork White River.
“These conservation easements will protect the Beaver Lake watershed forever,” said Grady Spann, executive director of Northwest Arkansas Land Trust. “As Northwest Arkansas continues to grow, it’s essential that we safeguard the natural systems that keep our drinking water clean. This project is a model for what effective, collaborative watershed protection looks like.”
According to the land trust, the conserved lands provide various water benefits, including 273,000 gallons per year of avoided runoff, 44 million gallons per year of rainfall intercepted by trees, 44 million gallons per year of evaporation, and 71 million gallons per year of tree transpiration.
“These numbers represent real, measurable benefits to the quality of the water that ultimately becomes Northwest Arkansas’s drinking supply,” said Ben Speight, director of land protection at Northwest Arkansas Land Trust. “And because these easements are permanent, the benefits will continue indefinitely.”
During the project, the land trust conducted or participated in 25 outreach events, including landowner dinners, watershed cleanups, university presentations, forest conservation workshops, guided preserve tours and conferences. The land trust connected with hundreds of residents through events such as landowner workshops in Huntsville and Fayetteville, multiple tours of Wilson Springs Preserve, presentations at the Arkansas Water Resources Conference, cleanup efforts along Town Branch, and a conservation breakfast for elected officials and developers.
The land trust also completed mailer and social media campaigns, overhauled its website, and released a 10-minute video about conservation easements and the importance of watershed protection. Four of the seven completed easements originated from landowners who learned about the land trust through these outreach efforts.
A key outcome of the project was the creation and use of a Conservation Priority Index, a geographic information system-based tool that integrates datasets from The Nature Conservancy, Open Space Institute and regional partners. The tool helped the land trust identify properties with the greatest potential to protect water quality and determine which easements were completed under this grant project. The Conservation Priority Index will continue to be used for future conservation and is being shared with other organizations and agencies.
The Northwest Arkansas Land Trust is the region’s first accredited land trust dedicated to preserving quality of life through permanent land protection. Its service area includes 13 counties in Northwest Arkansas, with a core focus on Benton, Washington, Madison and Carroll counties.